


Amongst The Books

by fallofthereichenbach



Category: Atlantis (UK TV)
Genre: Library AU, M/M, modern day AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-21
Updated: 2016-05-21
Packaged: 2018-06-09 20:33:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6922378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fallofthereichenbach/pseuds/fallofthereichenbach
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pythagoras works in a library. It's very, very boring - or, at least, it is until handsome stranger Icarus appears</p><p>After sassing the hell out of a homophobe, there can be no doubt that this is meant to be</p>
            </blockquote>





	Amongst The Books

**Author's Note:**

> More Pythacarus bc why not

Pythagoras was bored. The Saturday afternoon shifts were always the worst. The library was quiet; there was an old man standing in the War History section, and a woman wandering around the Film section, but neither of them had said a word to Pythagoras since entering, and both would probably be gone within the next half an hour. 

It was raining outside, which just made it all the more sad in the old building. The droplets pounded softly against the roof, and the sky was a stormy grey outside. It would feel atmospheric, except the heating was broken again and Pythagoras was too focused on not getting frostbite to consider the poetic beauty of it. The library was always so much nicer in the summer; the room would be warm, and filled with noisy families looking for something to placate their children. Pythagoras didn't mind kids, and more often than not he'd find himself running impromptu reading sessions with them. It was nice.

But now it was wet and cold and quiet and lonely. Pythagoras' shift ended in two hours, and then his place at the counter would be taken by his colleague and friend, Jason. He found himself staring at the clock, thinking of the work he had sitting at his table at home, and wishing it to tick by faster.

Pythagoras was just making a mental note to see if anyone was in the office and wanted tea (in theory his friend Hercules should be there, but he'd been looking under the weather and Pythagoras had told him to head home), when the unthinkable happened. The door opened.

A figure, wet and dripping, seemed to sprint through into the library. Pythagoras just stared at the person in shock. After arguably too long of dealing with people who were far too old to move that fast, the only reaction he had was surprise.

The figure stopped in the middle of the entrance, and began to remove it's coat. Taking down the hood that had previously been obscuring it's face, it revealed a man who was no older than Pythagoras. He had long-ish brown hair that was damp and frizzy from the storm outside, and big brown eyes. 

The man continued to remove his coat, muttering under his breath what Pythagoras could only assume was mainly profanity directed at the rain. He was just shaking out one of the sleeves when suddenly at last he must have noticed the strange feeling of being watched. He stopped murmuring, looked up rather awkwardly, and locked eyes with the still gaping Pythagoras.

This guy was incredibly attractive, which was both good and bad for Pyth. Good because, well, frankly it was nice to see someone who had enough of his own teeth left to eat a salad. But bad because Pyth found it difficult to be smooth and collected around attractive people; they were always far too intimidating.

The man took a few seconds to stare back at Pyth, who found that he had momentarily stopped breathing. He then smiled, ducked his head slightly, before moving away towards the aisles of books marked 'Philosophy'.

"Um, excuse me?" Pythagoras called after him suddenly. The guy turned around to look at him, still smiling politely.

"Yeah?" His voice was warm and deep, and Pyth didn't feel so cold anymore,

"Uh, would you like me to put your coat on the radiator? It'll save you having to carry it around, and it's kind of... dripping."

The man looked down at the coat in his hands, and saw that it was in fact becoming a makeshift waterfall. He gave a half-laugh, and looked back at Pyth.

"Yeah, that would be great actually," he moved towards the counter, and handed over the jacket, "I got caught in the rain while I was coming over here, and kind of had to run most of the way."

"Wow, and I was feeling sorry for myself over here."

"At least it's warm in here!" The man nodded, and Pyth raised his eyebrows at him.

"Warm? I've lost all of the feeling in my feet!"

"Really?"

"Yeah, the heating broke last week, so I've had to make do with a portable radiator and many cups of tea. Speaking of which, would you like one? It'll help some of the rain to evaporate."

Five minutes later, Pythagoras was handing the guy a cup of tea and keeping one for himself.

"Thanks. My name's Icarus, by the way," said Icarus, gratefully accepting the mug.

"No problem. I'm Pythagoras," said Pythagoras with a smile. Maybe the intense cold and lack of human contact of the last couple of weeks had caused a complete shift in personality, but he was actually finding it relatively easy to talk to Icarus.

"I know, it says so on your name tag."

Pythagoras looked down at said name tag, and tried not to blush.

"So it does. Now that you've reminded me that I do in fact work here, is there anything I can help you with?"

"Well-"

"Excuse me?"

Maybe Pythagoras had been so focused on Icarus that he didn't notice the old man walk up to stand next to him at the counter. Maybe the old man was secretly a ninja. Maybe he could turn invisible. Maybe he could teleport. Either way, he was clearly very irritated at the lack of customer service. He was also eyeing Icarus' tea suspiciously.

Pythagoras shot an apologetic glance at Icarus, who grinned and shuffled to the left out of the man's way, whilst simultaneously taking a deliberately loud slurp of tea.

"How can I help you, sir?"

"I would like to take this book. Please."

"Sure. Can I have your library card so that I can scan it in?"

Instead of retrieving his card like a good customer, the man simply stood there and looked at Pyth.

"I must say," he began, and Pyth knew immediately that this wasn't going to be a good speech, "That the customer service is much better at the bigger library in town. Much faster, and the library cards are cheaper too."

"Uh huh. Can I have your library card please?"

"I think in future I'll be taking my business to the other library. But just for today I'll be using your library, to take out this book that I want to get for my granddaughter. It's very important that I get it today, and I don't have the time to walk over to the other library to get it."

Pyth didn't really understand how this was supposed to be his fault, and he silently felt sorry for the girl who had to have this man as a grandfather. 

"Can I please have your library card so that I can scan it and give you the book ?" He looked briefly to Icarus for help, and he just winked at Pyth, who felt a blush creep over his cheeks. 

Unfortunately, this simply alerted the old man once again to Icarus' existence. 

"How come he gets a cup of tea and I don't? I was here first, and you didn't offer me tea," the man complained in a voice similar to that of a whiny toddler. Pyth just wanted to bang his head on the table.

"I'm afraid we only have two mugs," he attempted to be politely humorous, but the old man just curled his lip.

"Oh is that so? Let me tell you - this is unfair treatment of paying customers, and I won't stand for it."

"It's just a cup of tea, they're like two pounds at Costa," Icarus piped up. Pyth appreciated the defence, but it wasn't helping to calm the old man down. 

"It's not 'just a cup of tea', young man, it's discrimination!"

"Look, just give me your library card, I'll give you the book, and then you can leave and we'll say no more about this," Pythagoras said, attempting to retain some semblance of politeness.

"I will be complaining to your manager about your rudeness," the man said, and Pyth felt like he was about to scream from frustration.

"What rudeness? I can assure you that you are the only one being rude here," Icarus argued, and Pyth appreciated the sentiment until he added, "So just give him your damn library card and get out of here!"

The man looked scandalised, but eventually slammed the book down on the counter and rustled through his wallet to find the library card. Icarus and Pythagoras exchanged glances.

"You stupid youths... no respect these days... in my day, we respected our elders," the man murmured quietly, not really directed at anyone. He held the card out to Pyth. 

"Bet you're all gay or something... yeah, back when we didn't have all of this 'gay marriage', things were much better..."

Pythagoras' hand faltered and stopped as he reached out to finally take the card. After exactly one second of hesitation, he snatched it violently out of the man's hand, and grabbed the book off the counter as well.

Then he put the book over in the tray labelled 'Recently Returned'.

"Actually I wanted to take that book out today-"

"I'm sorry, sir, but homophobia and general rudeness is not tolerated here," Pythagoras said steadily. 

Deaf to the man's protests, he then took the card and snapped it into two halves. It made a satisfyingly painful noise, and Pyth handed it straight back to the man. Icarus looked on with a mixture of disbelief and admiration.

"What-?" The man squeaked, shocked.

"You said you'd be taking your business to the bigger library in town from now on. I'm simply saving you the trouble of having to cancel your membership here. In future, you will be banned from this library. Now, please leave the building before I call the police."

Pythagoras looked at the man calmly, and after some incoherent jabbering, the guy picked up his wallet and left the library.

"Have a nice day," Pyth called after him as he pulled open the door.

Pythagoras let out a long sigh, and turned back to Icarus, who was leaning against the counter and looking at him with some kind of indistinguishable emotion; it looked almost like pride.

"Pythagoras, that was... fucking savage."

 

-

 

Over an hour later, Pythagoras and Icarus were sitting on the floor in the middle of one of the aisles, surrounded by various piles of books. The library was completely empty, and they were talking about anything and everything.

Pythagoras was leaning against a bookshelf, and Icarus was leaning against the one opposite him. Pythagoras had crossed his legs, and Icarus was stretched out - every now and then, he'd gently nudge Pythagoras' side with his foot when he was making a point.

They were comfortable together; laughing and smiling as one. Learning more and more about each other as they went.

"... yeah, I study History at the local college," Icarus was saying 

"That's cool, is it interesting?"

"Kind of. More interesting than I thought it would be. I originally wanted to take Art, but my father insisted on History. I guess I'm glad he did, but I do miss Art ."

"Do you like to draw a lot?"

"Yeah. I should draw you sometime, you have a face that would be really nice to draw!"

Pythagoras smiled at the clumsy compliment, and it made him feel warm inside that Icarus was considering still remembering him in the future. Over the small amount of time since they'd met, they'd gotten to know each other surprisingly well. Maybe bonding over sassing the heck out of a homophobic asshole does that to people.

Anyway, Pyth knows that kind and impulsive words are sort of Icarus' speciality; he is warm and bold and bright and cheerful - and he is much braver than Pythagoras.

"So what sort of stuff are you interested in?" Icarus is asking as Pythagoras lazily floats back into reality. It's still raining outside, but in their own little bubble of a world, the atmosphere is that of a beautiful summer evening full of friendship and stories.

"Maths, mainly," Pythagoras said softly, "I study it at college, when I'm not here."

"Wait - so your name is Pythagoras, and you really do love maths?"

Pyth rolled his eyes with a sigh, but couldn't help himself smiling too at the rich happiness in Icarus' voice.

"Wow, Icarus, you're the first person to ever point that out!"

"Really?"

"No, you idiot," Pythagoras laughed fondly.

"Rude... I was never a big fan of maths. Too many numbers, too complicated. There's always a problem, always something looking to be solved. There are too many knots, too many... tangles."

It doesn't really make sense, but at the same time it kind of... does.

"That's why I like it, though. There's always another problem to be solved. It makes me feel like I'm doing something important, making a difference to the world."

"You do make a difference to the world, with or without maths. You make a difference to every person you meet, every life you touch. And, believe me, it's a positive difference."

"Thank you," Pythagoras said quietly, and he really meant it.

"But I just don't understand triangles," Icarus continued, as if nothing else had happened, "Like, why do you need all of that trigonometry stuff? Not to insult the work of your namesake, but why does Pythagoras' theorem work. I don't know, triangles seem kinda pointless."

"Actually, I think that triangles are very interesting. It's something in their angles that makes Pythagoras' theorem work, and then you have all of the trigonometry stuff too! I don't know how it works, but that's almost what makes them so fascinating... I'm sorry."

Pythagoras stopped himself, having noticed that Icarus had sat up and was staring at him.

"I must be boring you."

"I can never be bored in your company, Pythagoras," Icarus said, almost dreamily, "What I find fascinating is how passionate you get about what you're talking about. You really come alive, y'know? Your eyes get bright and you smile more and you seem to go somewhere completely different... It's wonderful."

Pythagoras didn't even know where to begin responding to that. But maybe that was okay, considering Icarus wasn't saying anything either. They were just looking at each other. Two people who happened to find themselves sitting opposite each other in the middle of an aisle in a library. Two lives that just happened to collide, two paths that happened to cross...

"Pythagoras? Pythagoras!"

And the spell was broken. 

"It's Jason, he has the shift after mine," Pythagoras whispered regretfully, not quite sure of why he was whispering. Icarus just kind of nodded, and looked down at the pile of books closest to him.

"Pythagoras?" Jason's voice quietened down slightly as he rounded the corner and found Pythagoras, who suddenly realised how odd it must look, but couldn't quite bring himself to care.

"Hey Jason. Are you early for your shift?" Pythagoras asked, not quite sure of what the time was or whether time even existed when he was talking to Icarus. It felt like he was coming out of a dream, or falling quite suddenly into one.

"Um, no? I'm like ten minutes late, I texted you. Uh... are you going to introduce me to your friend?"

Jason was sweet, in a big-brotherly, acting way. He could be kind of protective of Pyth, saying that he was working too hard, either at the library or at college. Jason was always on at him to get out more, see more people.

"Jason, you're literally wearing a name tag that says 'hello my name is Jason'. But this is Icarus, by the way."

"Hi," said Icarus, with a clumsy wave.

"Hello," said Jason with a smile that was a little too bright, and then he turned to Pythagoras with a smile that was a little too knowing. Pyth knew what he was thinking, but he didn't bother to deny it.

"Aren't you usually rushing to get home by now?" Jason asked, a twinkle in his eye.

"Usually. But the radiator is working again," Pythagoras gestured to the portable heater that they'd managed to plug in.

"Thank God! Now I won't have to spend another shift freezing my ass off behind the counter! D'you wanna help me put it back, then?" 

"Sure," Pythagoras said, starting to stand up. He looked over at Icarus, and thought for a second, "Let me just put the books away, and I'll be right with you."

"Okay, okay, I'm going," Jason said, looking pointedly between the two of them and starting to walk away, "You don't have to use your Customer Voice, we're all friends here!"

Pythagoras started placing the books slowly on the shelves. He heard Icarus get up and start doing the same.

"You should go see your friend, I think he wants to talk to you," Icarus said, smiling.

"He's not exactly subtle, is he?"

"Nope. Don't worry, I can do the rest of the books."

"Thanks," Pythagoras said, and picked up the heater. It still had Icarus's jacket on it, but he carried over to the counter anyway. At least it meant that Icarus couldn't sneak off anywhere.

His limbs were aching after sitting down for so long, and it felt weird to be walking about in the quiet library without Icarus' loud voice echoing musically around.

The second Jason saw him, he descended on Pyth like a hawk.

"So, who is he? Just a friend? It's okay if he is, I'm glad that you're getting out and meeting people. How did you guys meet? When? You seem to know each other pretty well!"

Pyth wasn't ready for this bombardment of questions, so he set the heater down on the counter to give himself a couple of seconds.

"Slow down, Jason, Christ. I only met him... two (two and a half?) hours ago."

"Really?"

"Yep. He helped me get rid of a particularly annoying customer. He's a... friend," Pythagoras nodded as he found the right word. Icarus was a friend. A good friend.

"Would you like him to be more, though?"

"If you don't lower your voice, I swear to God I will knock you out with this heater!"

"Right, right, sorry. I get it, you're not exactly used to this kind of thing-"

"Jason?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

A few minutes later, the heater was successfully plugged in and switched on. Jason was busying himself making a cup of tea, and Pythagoras was gathering his things to go. He didn't really know what he was supposed to do, so he was messing about with his coat while he tried to think.

Then Jason said "Are you off then, Icarus?" too loudly to not be deliberate, and Pyth nearly tripped over himself trying to get out of the office quickly.

"Uh, yeah, I'm gonna head home now."

"D'you want me to walk you?" Pythagoras asked suddenly.

"I don't mind-"

"I have an umbrella, and it's still raining outside. D'you want me to walk you home?" Pythagoras interrupted with a smile. Was he being charming or pushy? He could never quite get it right. But Icarus was grinning back at him, which was all that mattered.

"Yes please."

Jason looked back and forth like he was watching a particularly thrilling tennis match, and smirked behind his tea.

"I guess I'll see you on Monday then," Pythagoras said to him, as they started to leave.

"Yep. It was nice meeting you, Icarus!"

"You too!"

"Have fun in the rain!" Jason said, as the door swung shut behind them.

 

-

 

"So this is me, then," Icarus said, as they stood outside his house. It had been probably one of the nicest walks in the rain that Pythagoras had ever had, and he was sad that it was ending.

"Um, I guess I'll see you soon then?" Pythagoras said awkwardly. But when would he see Icarus again? He lived quite far away, even though the walk had felt like nothing. Pyth felt he had to do something, anything. He almost wished Jason was here to push him to do something.

"Yeah. Hey, can I have your number?" Icarus asked, way too casually to seem natural.

Pythagoras, who had spent that last ten minutes trying to think of how to ask that very question, smiled in relief.

"Sure!"

Cue a few minutes of awkward fumbling around in pockets with numb hands whilst trying to maintain control of the umbrella.

"Pythagoras! You keep dripping water on me!" Icarus laughed, as he tried to put his phone away after he'd typed in Pyth's number.

"Sorry," Pythagoras smiled nervously, and shifted slightly so that they were both covered. He caught Icarus' gaze again, and then they both looked away again.

Surely it shouldn't be this awkward. It hadn't been this awkward between them before.

"I don't know how to do this," Icarus confessed all of a sudden. Pythagoras looked at him in surprise; those big brown eyes of his almost looked scared. Pyth didn't want Icarus to be afraid of him.

"Me neither, but I'll take a wild guess..."

And then Pythagoras brought a hand up to Icarus' face, and kissed him.

And it was wonderful. Like a dream, like a ray of sunlight was shining down from the heavens just to congratulate them. 

They moved to fit one another, fast becoming familiar with each other's mouths. It was sweet and soft, but also firm and demanding. It was loving, but also longing. For the first time in quite a while, Pyth felt wanted, needed... Icarus wanted him... Icarus needed him.

The umbrella slipped slightly, showering Icarus with a light spray of rain again. He laughed into the kiss, and brought his hand up to the umbrella to steady it. It covered Pythagoras' hand, and spread warmth through his entire body.

All too soon, they were pulling apart; no, drifting apart. It wasn't the violent break of a homophobe's library card. It was more like waking up on a lazy weekend morning and knowing you can go back to sleep at any point.

"So I'll see you again soon, then?" Icarus whispered over the rain.

"Definitely," was all Pythagoras could manage to say. He hadn't been kissed like that in a very long time, if ever.

Icarus grinned, that beautiful, honest smile that spread right to his eyes.

"Good."

 

-

 

Pythagoras continued to work at the library.

And Icarus continued to appear, like clockwork, every time his shift began. They'd sit at the counter together when there were customers, or sit around in the aisles and talk when there weren't. And every time when Pythagoras' shift ended, they'd walk home together.

Of course, that wasn't the only time they spent together.

Oh god no.

**Author's Note:**

> Um so I also made a new instagram for my pythacarus ramblings?? If you wanna be bombarded with frequent thoughts straight from my brainbox, then pls feel free to follow it (it's @/cryingbecausepythacarus)


End file.
